Food Network Baker Cory Allen Jones Brings National Attention to Georgia’s Robins Region
Cory Allen Jones might be a familiar face on the Food Network, but his baking journey began long before at his great-aunt’s house in Unadilla, Georgia.
Jones has always been a creative person. As a kid, he channeled his creativity into cookie decorating with his family around the holidays. Later, a cookie decorating class with his mother gave him the vision for his career.
“It sparked a whole new baking journey,” he says.
At the same time, Jones ran a home-and-gift retail shop in nearby Perry, where he held cookie pop-ups to test the concept. The response was strong enough that he launched a cookie business from a commercial kitchen in Unadilla. When that took off, he transformed the retail shop in Perry into a storefront and named it Sweet Evelyn’s after his maternal grandmother. It opened in 2023.
TV had never been on Jones’ radar, until a visit to CookieCon in 2021 prompted him to apply to the Food Network. He wasn’t selected that first year, but he applied again and was cast on Christmas Cookie Challenge in 2022.
He hasn’t slowed down since.
Winning Big and Scaling Up
Jones went on to win Holiday Wars in 2023, and most recently finished as a finalist on Halloween Baking Championship in 2025.
That competitive drive, he says, comes from his stepfather, barbecue pitmaster Myron Mixon. “But I’ve always had a spirit of never wanting to lose,” Jones says.
His television success also reshaped Sweet Evelyn’s. After his run on Halloween Baking Championship, Jones knew the business had to grow beyond cookies. That meant learning to produce at scale and evolving the shop into something bigger.
Today, Sweet Evelyn’s is a full-service bakery specializing in everything but traditional cakes. Whenever something new and unique hits the menu, customers take notice. The sopapilla cookie – a cinnamon cookie finished with a honey drizzle that soaks in overnight – is exactly the kind of treat that sells out within a day.
Finding Community in Competition
Each Food Network appearance has taught Jones something new, including what it’s actually like when the cameras roll. The timed challenges are every bit as intense as they look.
“The time is very real,” he says. “They are the fastest minutes of your life.”
But the competition, it turns out, isn’t quite what viewers might expect. Despite the on-screen stakes, the atmosphere on the set is surprisingly supportive, and those bonds don’t end when filming wraps. Jones stays in touch with fellow competitors, and the connections have grown into genuine friendships rooted in a shared experience most people will never have.
“You make some of the best friends because they’re friends in the industry,” he says. “They know exactly what you’re going through.”
Investing in the Next Generation
The TV appearances have had a tangible impact back home. Jones has put Sweet Evelyn’s on the map and helped elevate the profile of the Robins Region. People go out of their way to visit, some driving four hours just to walk through the door.
Jones sees the Robins Region as a place with real promise for the next generation of creatives and entrepreneurs. Robins Air Force Base is a natural melting pot, bringing a wide variety of people who enrich the community and keep it growing.
“There are enough people here to support everybody, and that makes a difference,” he says.
That support is more than a feeling. The Robins Regional Chamber offers strong resources for business owners, and one standout is the BOSS Food Pros Group, a network of restaurant and food industry professionals that Jones describes as “a game changer.” It’s a community in which people help each other with anything and everything from ingredient deliveries to moral support.
For Jones, it all comes back to the same sentiment that carried him from his great-aunt’s kitchen to the television screen: Don’t stop. Keep pushing through the hard times. Don’t give up.
“It doesn’t matter where you come from,” he says, “as long as you know where you’re going.”
Get to Know the Robins Region
Want to learn more about living and working in the Robins Region? Check out the latest edition of Livability Robins Region, Georgia.